Improved railway-switch



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HIRAM BE CKWIT Hg, O F GRASS LAKE, MICHIGAN.

Letters Patent No. 83,242, dated October 20, 1868. I

IMPROVED RAILWAY-SWITCH.

The Schedule referred to n these Letters Pate-nt and making part of the same.

. l To all whom 'it 'ma/y concern:

Be it known that I, HIRAM BEOKWITH, of Grass Lake, in the county of Jackson, and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Switches; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, `and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specicatin.

This invention relates tov an improvement in the method of operating railroad-switches; and it consists inthe method of securing the switch-lever, and holding itin place, as will be hereinafter described.

Figure l is a side elevation ofthe switch-lever, and the frame by which it is supported.

Figure 2- is an edge view'of the same, showing a bell-crank fastening, provided with a weight tO make the fastening automatic.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin parts.

A represents the frame, to which the lever is attached, and by which it is supported.

This frame is made of iron, and it is securely fastened to the platform B.

The lever is marked C, and is fastened to the frame by a joint-pin at d, as seen in the drawing.

The pin l is the fulcrum of the lever.

The rod, which connects the lever with the switch, is seen at c in red color, attached to the lever at f.

The upper portion of the frame A forms the arc of a circle, whose centre is the fulcrurn d.

G is the bell-crank, one arm of which is provided with a weight, h, andthe other arm vwith a pin or tenon, fi.

The lever has a mortise, which corresponds in position, as the lever is moved, with the notches marked J J inthe circular part of the frame.

When the bell-crank stands as represented in iig. 2, the pin i, passes through the mortise in the lever, and also enters and passes through one of the notches in the frame, in which position the weight holds it.

To move the lever to the notch J and thus'change the switch, the weight his raised, which withdraws the pm t. Y

/Vhen the mortise in the lever comes opposite the notch, the weight h will force the pin throughboth the notch and mortise, thus securely fastening the lever without any handling or further attention.-

The advantage Of this over the old method is, that there are no pins to loosen or handle, and no holes to hunt for in changing the switch, but by raising the.

weight with one hand, and moving' the lever withthe other, the work is done, and can be performed in the darkest night as readily as in the day-time.

I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- In combination with the switch-lever C, the bellcrank G, with the weight h and pin i, arranged sub-4 stantially as described, for the purposes set forth.

The above specification of my invention signed by me, this 14th day ofAugust, 1868.

Witnesses: l-IIRAM BEGKWITH.

ALONZO FARGO, J NO. ANDERSON. 

